EasyJet lands the No.1 flag

BRITISH Airways officially became Britain's third favourite airline today after latest figures revealed easyJet has overtaken it and is carrying more passengers within Britain and Europe.

The Luton-based budget airline reported that it carried 1.68m passengers during January, a rise from last year of 12.3%.

That compares with a 5% dive in BA's January passenger numbers on its loss-making domestic and European short haul routes to 1.56m.

Market leader Ryanair said it carried 1.7m during the month, a rise of 36%, though that is flattered by the first-time inclusion of Buzz, bought in April.

A buoyant easyJet chief executive Ray Webster indicated the latest statistics may show it is winning the cut-throat price war which only last week saw Ryanair's share price collapse on its first-ever profit warning and BA slash a further 4,000 jobs on top of the 13,000 already ordered.

The key airline performance indicator of 'load factor' shows easyJet aircraft flying 77% full during the month, unchanged from a year ago. That compares with a shock fall of five percentage points at Ryanair to 71% in the month while BA's short haul services were almost half empty, with a load factor of just 54%.

Webster said: 'Due to our decision to adopt a prudent growth strategy and the strength of our major city network where we fly to the most convenient and popular airports, easyJet continues to trade in line within our expectations.'